Mandy Moore Calls Her First Marriage to Ryan Adams a ‘Betrothal’
Mandy Moore has been in the spotlight for so long that there is little people don’t know about her. That doesn’t mean she can’t still shock her fans and followers, though. During a recent podcast episode, Moore managed to shock listeners when she referred to herself as “betrothed.” The word is a heavy one, filled with connotations, and it seems as if the word choice was deliberate. Let’s take a look at what happened.
Mandy Moore described herself as ‘betrothed’
On the May 19 episode of That Was Us, a podcast Moore co-hosts with her former This Is Us costars Sterling K. Brown and Chris Sullivan, the actress reflected on her current husband, Taylor Goldsmith, and the relationship he has with her family. Moore revealed that Goldsmith had asked her father for her hand in marriage before their 2017 engagement; a move that Moore says deeply touched her dad.
She went on to suggest it was extra special because she had been “betrothed” before, but that person did not ask her father for permission to propose. It was not a shock that Moore was married once before Goldsmith. That marriage and, later, that divorce made headlines. She was clearly referencing her seven-year union with Ryan Adams, a musician she claims emotionally abused and controlled her during their chaotic relationship. What was surprising was the term “betrothed.” The old-fashioned language might, in its most basic form, fit the statement, but its cultural connotations left fans with a lot of questions.
What Does “Betrothed” Actually Mean?
At its most basic, “betrothed” simply means engaged to be married. To be betrothed to someone is to be formally promised to them in marriage. While it just means engaged, the cultural connotations are pretty significant.
The term is almost always reserved for marriages that are more transactional than a love match. It is also inherently linked to the concept of arranged marriages or marriages planned for business or financial gain. In many of those cases, parents are directly involved in the pairing. It is a very formal and contractual term, and we think Moore assigned it to her first marriage for a reason.
While family was clearly not involved in Moore’s first engagement and marriage, the use of the term seems to indicate she doesn’t see anything romantic about their union. She has made it clear that there is no love lost from that relationship, even years after their split. In a 2019 expose in The New York Times, she outlined Adams’s abusive behavior. A year later, he issued a public apology, to which she responded, claiming it was “curious” that he would issue a public apology but never reach out to make private amends.
